Passion - Desire Set Afire

What separates well-lived from life mundane?

Rhythm of swift horse on windswept plain,

Storied days hooked on cowboy way of life,

Where brotherly ties make trail rides worthwhile.

Moonlight strolls on sandy ocean shores

By desirous lovers longing to embrace,

Awash in feelings akin breaking waves,

Yet exquisite like butterflies in meadows.

Light captured in a single pearl of dew

With velvet gloves of quietude at dawn,

Then spilled in strokes across white linen realm

As words that caress human heart and soul.

Find passion within simple things in life,

Where passion thrives as desire set afire.

Ilija Lukić 2020

Note: Written while admitted to UNC Hospital, Chapel Hill NC for heart stent procedure...reflections about my cowboy days in NM, first date with my wife and love of photography and writing.

Mutual Respect

Peace and harmony flow when hearts brim with mutual respect.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Mutual Respect
(Arapaho Warrior painting by Ilija Lukić with clay and horsehair sculptures by Linda Person)

Mushrooms Into Eagles

Does taking a risk increase the likelihood of making a mistake? I think not. It’s a toss of the coin. Inaction in the face of social upheaval wrought by the persistent coronavirus pandemic and riotous civil unrest more often than not leads to regrets over lost opportunities and successes.

On an outing into Carolina woodlands with my canine pal Cooper, I discover a mushroom in the damp duff. Albeit beautiful, it is not an eagle in majestic flight. A flurry of thoughts race through my mind. Have we as a people become akin a mushroom…resigned to lives away from sunlight…safely tucked into our respective corners of duff…afraid to engage in societal issues.

When I ponder the last six months of life in America, every heartbeat and fiber of my being screams the adage “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” Wake up America, challenge naysayers and purveyors of divisiveness, doom and gloom. Be that eagle taking bold flight into murky skies, for you know our best days are ahead.

© Ilija Lukić 2020